The FAA also warned of staffing issues at a facility in Jacksonville, Florida, that could cause some problems.
“And that’s a sign that the controllers are wearing thin,” Duffy said.
Earlier Monday, flights were also briefly delayed at Los Angeles International Airport, one of the busiest in the world. The disruptions emerged a day after the FAA had issued a temporary ground stop at LAX for about two hours due to a shortage of controllers. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said about 72% of the flights scheduled Sunday at LAX took off within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure times.
Most controllers are continuing to work mandatory overtime six days a week during the shutdown without pay, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said Monday. That leaves little time for a side job unless controllers call in sick to the FAA.
Before the shutdown, the FAA was already dealing with a shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers. Nick Daniels, president of NATCA, has said the agency had reached “the lowest staffing we’ve had in decades of only 10,800.”
